Dee Surtees
-
Posts
152 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Dee Surtees
-
-
The Great mixture on the Wordsworth and Makell organ in St Salvador's Episcopal Church, Dundee was prepared for in 1882, and finally installed by Harrison's in 1997: http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D00481
I'm sure someone will come up with a longer example, but 115 years slightly beats the Whitchurch organ mentioned above.
-
1 hour ago, Contrabombarde said:
Here's a few more quite flamboyant and probably lesser known pieces, which are reasonably playable and whose scores are available on imslp:
Otto Dienel (1839-1905) Concert-fuge in C minor, opus 1
Thanks for sharing the Dienel. I love his chorale preludes, but have never come across this piece before. Definitely looks worth checking out.
-
For repairing scores, I tend to use book repair tape. This is clear plastic, but much thicker and stronger than regular sellotape, and supposedly of archival quality so won't damage the scores. I guess I will find out in a few decades whether this is true or not.
As for interesting signatures on second music, I have a copy of a piece that used to belong to C.H. Trevor.
-
12 minutes ago, Vox Humana said:
It seems, from the online blurb, that with these last two volumes Breitkopf has abandoned the practice of including variant versions and dubious pieces on CD in favour of presenting them online instead.
This is also, it would seem, true for reprintings of the earlier volumes. The most recent volume I bought was volume 4, and it came without a CD and a little note informing the reader that as from 2018, the contents of the CDs would be available online instead. While it is good that this material is available freely online, it is, as you say, useful to have it on your hard drive.
-
13 hours ago, Vox Humana said:
Viewing the online versions of the Breitkopf volumes I must say I'm not keen on the layout, in which all the chorales are presented in alphabetical order, irrespective of the authenticity. They inevitably give the impression of a dog's breakfast. The Bärenreiter volumes, which divide the chorale compositions into (a) those pieces of undoubted or reasonably secure authorship, (b) the Neumeister chorales (whose authorship is still disputed) and (c) the rest, is much neater.
Having had a brief perusal of the introduction to the new volumes, (and kudos to Breitkopf for making them freely available online) I think I can understand the rationale behind the grouping. All the pieces that are deemed by the editors to be authentic are included. Given that only 3 pieces (one of which is a fragment) are relegated to the appendix, and one further available online (the other online items all appear to be alternative versions), this might appear to be a generous assessment of authenticity. As for the Neumeister chorales, it would appear that the decision to include them in with the rest rather than as a separate collection was taken to avoid given the impression that the collection (as opposed to the pieces it contains) is authentic.
As far as the NBA is concernced, part of the reason the Neumeister chorales were published separately was they were not yet discovered when the series was begun.
-
I've played two Conachers, and both are very fine musical instruments, in my opinion. This one, by Peter Conacher, was originally a cinema organ before being moved to a church: http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=R00300 It looks to be very similar to the one Tony Newnham mentions above, and is very versatile despite it's size.
The second is by James Conacher: http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=R00130 It is even smaller, but produces a lovely sound. The non-standard pedalboard takes a bit of getting used to. It is a 25-note radiating concave board, but takes up about the same space as a 30 note would, with the result that the notes are very widely spaced, and you have to stretch to reach top C. One other strange feature about this organ is the trumpet stop, which must have been a later addition. It is accessed by a strange red button, centrally placed above the swell manual, and produces the vilest sound I have ever heard from an organ.
-
3 hours ago, David Drinkell said:
And St. Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, Perth. I haven't played this one since I moved from Scotland in 1988, so I only knew the Rushworth rebuild, which was an uneven sort of instrument although it sounded quite fine if one learned to avoid the danger spots. Quirks included a 4' Clarion on the Great but no 8' reed. That was on the Choir, which had the advantage that it could be used in solo against the Great or coupled when needed. There was also a solitary Choir mutation stop - a Septieme 1 1/7! Sandy Edmonstone's 1996 rebuild, incorporating the old Willis III console from St. Giles, Edinburgh, improved matters immensely, from what I hear:
http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D03958
The organ also acquired at this time the Tuba from Dunblane cathedral. NPOR suggests this was in c. 1985, but that can't be true as the Dunblane organ wasn't removed until 1989, so I suspect that this wasn't until the 1996 rebuild.
-
I am glad to hear that volumes 9 and 10 are available. Being a fairly new organist, I took the decision to invest in the new edition instead of the NBA as I needed the relevant volumes. I have now collected all of the first 8 and look forward to adding the last two once they reach UK retailers.
-
How about the Toccata "La vallée verte" sur le thème 'Pat le facteur' by Edward Marsh. (or, in English, Toccata "The Green Valley" on the theme of Postman Pat) A somewhat extraordinary piece written for Kevin Bowyer. It is recorded on Kevin's Organ Extravaganza! album, and the score is available here: https://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/2779.html
-
It is reported on Facebook that the former St Peter's Lammermuir has been acquired by All Saints' Sudborough as their new organ. Given the comments above I wonder if this may be a false economy. No word as far as I can see as to who is to do the installation.
-
I love the "Variations sur Kelvingrove" and have played a selection of movements from it as a closing voluntary on a couple of occasions when we have sung the hymn during the service.
-
I saw a dog (accompanied by its owner) at an organ recital recently, who sat very patiently through the entire performance. I think it was at St Giles cathedral in Edinburgh, but can't now remember which of the recitals I've been to this year it was.
-
On 12/09/2017 at 19:52, Peter Allison said:
just had a friend point this one out to me, its well played I think
This is a wonderful performance. There are several extracts on Youtube, but sadly the DVD seems to be unavailable. I have been looking for a copy for a while now.
-
Classic FM on FM is hopeless because of the gross compression they impose for the benefit of those who listen in cars
CEP
This is an interesting observation. I had no idea until you mentioned it of the technical reasons involved, but find Classic FM unlistenable, even when they play recordings I would otherwise jump to listen to.
-
I use a Zoom H4n for similar purposes, and it has multitrack capabilities like Tony mentions. This is however rather more than your budget. (I paid £180 for mine - you may be able to get it for less) The Zoom H1 is an excellent piece of kit for its price, but doesn't have multitracking or full size inputs. I did use a borrowed one before I bought my H4n, and from memory it does have a 1/8 inch input, but this is obviously no better than a computer.
-
This French news article contains a few pictures of the damage to the organ. The organ sits right behind the Rose window so will have born the brunt of the damage. http://www.lunion.fr/10729/article/2017-01-13/tempete-egon-la-rosace-de-la-cathedrale-de-soissons-s-est-effondree-sur-l-orgue
-
Happy New Year! I came across this extraordinary video of Olivier Latry improvising on the Fritts organ at Notre Dame University. Impressive stop management, including the use of a foot at one point.
-
Not sure about this one but I for one did not find the 1975 H&H that in place there before it a very pleasant instrument to listen to - there seems to have been a relatively quick succession of instruments there.
A
The H&H is now in the Younger Hall in St Andrews, where I have played it. It is a truly bizarre specification and one struggles to find a rationale for it. The pedal looks substantial but is weak and incapable of sustaining an independent line, while the only swell reed is a 16' and thus rather useless. This whole is made even more disappointing by the fact that the organ itself is a pleasure to play with a wonderfully responsive action.
-
A number of contemporary choral works exist in such arrangements, and are used by choral societies for whom hiring a full size orchestra would be prohibitively expensive. My choir recently performed John Rutter's Requiem, with the reduced scoring of flute, oboe, harp, 'cello, timpani, glockenspiel and organ; which was surprisingly effective as an ensemble. I believe the arrangement was Rutter's own.
-
According to his French Wikipedia article, the Carillon orléanais and the three Toccatas are separate works. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Nibelle
The 50 pièces sur des thèmes liturgiques seems to consist of a collection of entrées, offertoires, élévations, etc. much in the manner of Franck's L'organiste and similar collections.
http://biblio.cmadq.gouv.qc.ca/in/faces/details.xhtml?id=p%3A%3Ausmarcdef_0000001987&
-
There are two cats in the St Peter's organ, according to the second post on this page; the Viola Felix and the Tibia Sylvestris: http://mander-organs-forum.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/588-cats-and-organs/page-3St Peter's, Eaton Sq, London:
Viola Felix
I have a lurking memory that this is something to do with somone's cat, though I did play this instrument shortly after its inauguration and it didn't sound particularly feline as I recall. Maybe it had been doctored.
St Anne's, Moseley, Birmingham:
Flauto Magico
CEP
-
On a recent trip to Holland I played an organ with a Vagot: http://www.orgelsite.nl/kerken22/beverwijk1.htm
It also has, rather oddly, a Roorfluÿt on one manual and a Rhorflúyt on the other.
-
I was recently reminded of the organ in St-Sepulchre-without-Newgate which has a fairly conventional manual configuration, but a ridiculously large pedal division for an organ of 13 stops: http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N17580
-
I too love this discussion. It is a fascinating topic and one that always seems to repay further discussion (probably since no one can agree, as Colin says).
I recently bought a digital harpsichord which has 5 built in temperaments, and I have learnt a lot just from playing around with them, so much so that I now wish I had an instrument which capable of programming new temperaments, rather than just being limited to the presets.
Flamboyant showpieces
in Organ Music
Posted
Well, the performance with the dancer is quite something. I'm led to believe that interpretive dance is all the rage as a form of worship in certain churches, though not the kind of churches that usually have pipe organs.